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British Empire Essay - 'The Contraction of the British Empire was Started by the First World War but accelerated by the Second' Discuss£2.99
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An A-Level Essay from the British Empire Course answering the question: 'The Contraction of the British Empire was Started by the First World War but accelerated by the Second' Discuss. Was graded 23/25 (A*) by my teacher.
‘The Contraction of the British Empire was Started by the First World War, but accelerated by
the Second’ Assess the validity of this view with reference to the years 1914-1947
Overall, this statement is a valid view because the economic problems and increased nationalist
sentiment that was started by the First World War and accelerated by the Second led to major
contractions to the empire in this period. Although some contraction took place before World War
Two (WW2) this was still started by World War One (WW1) and it was in areas of less significance
than the contractions which took place after WW2 e.g. in India. Furthermore, some of the problems
the empire faced were started by WW2, however, these issues were less significant because they
simply put more pressure on the British to contract its empire – something which was already
inevitable because of the issues created by both of the world wars.
Fighting in two major wars damaged the British economy which drove forward contraction. It was no
longer the economic superpower it had once been as it was now in massive debts and eclipsed by the
USA. In WW1, Britain had borrowed $4 billion from the US to fund its war effort and recovery and it
was struggling to keep up with competition in its oversees markets, for example, the Japanese textile
industry threatened the British. These economic issues were made worse by WW2, Britain had debts
of £3500m and it borrowed a further £900m from the USA to rebuild its economy after the war. This
reliance on the USA was important because it reduced Britain’s ability to act independently, rather it
was under the influence of the USA who supported the contraction of imperialism. Britain was also
forced to sell 1/3 of its overseas assets to help to repay its debts which was significant because it led
to a contraction of the ‘informal’ trading empire which had been an important aspect of the empire
before WW1 subsequently reducing the amount of influence that Britain had around the world. It also
led to contraction more directly because Britain could no longer offer as many economic benefits to
the colonies such as access to greater markets which meant that they had little motivation to remain in
the empire and therefore increased the desire for independence. If countries put up large resistance to
the British, Britain could no longer afford to keep them if they were not economically beneficial
because it cost too much to supress the unrest and maintain control. Economic factors were one of the
driving forces in Indian independence in 1947 because the amount of unrest there had made it
economically unfeasible. Economic problems were very significant in driving the contractions of the
Empire in this period because the trade that had once held the empire together was greatly reduced
because of the cumulative effect of the economic costs of both WW1 and WW2. It led to contractions
both of the informal empire and the formal empire and contributed to the hugely significant loss of
India.
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